Last night I sat down on my futon to check my email and I felt something hit my neck. Turns out it was a tick. I have no idea where it came from, but I can only guess that it jumped off of my dog. I've thoroughly combed and searched my dog (and myself) and we purchased a flea/tick collar for him last night. What an insidious little bug though. If I'd ignored the tiny little sensation from him landing on my neck I'd have never noticed it until much later, if at all. Very creepy-crawly, and hard as a rock. I couldn't crush it with my fingers. I had to smash it with something hard and heavy. We had just taken our dog out for a hike a day or two ago, so I can only assume that that was where it came from. I few years ago he suffered a tick-paralisys incident that about scared the crap out of my wife and I.

Not this tick:

This is what I'm talking about:

Edit: I wanted to look up some more info about ticks and found this:
It is a common misconception that the tick can jump from the plant onto the host. Physical contact is the only method of transportation for ticks.

A good friend of mine used to work at a long term care facility. One of the "clients" as they called them. was a young guy who had a basketball scholarship after high school years ago.

Before he started college he went hiking or camping with his friends and came home with a tick bite. He got lyme disease, this was years ago before the public awareness that exists today. The disease progressed to total paralysis and he ended up in that facility by the time he was 20 and he spent the rest of his life there.

A good way to keep ticks off of you is to wear a string of garlic around your neck. For extra protection you should carry a crucifix and a vial of holy water. The nest can always be found by looking for a group of tightly clustered little coffins. Once you have identified it, pounding a wooden stake through each of their (tiny) hearts will kill them as will dragging them out into the sunlight. Hope this helps and be safe!

Either a more sensitive section of your skin was trod upon,
Fell,
stepped off your shirt or hair onto your skin,
or, more likely, was walking around and what you felt was the tick beginning to burrow into your skin for some blood. Most people don't even feel that.

They tend to crawl out onto the very tip of plants and branches waiting for a warm blooded animal to brush a branch.
Usually at sock/shoe level. Same height as small animals legs.
They then instinctively crawl up to a safe spot where they won't likely be brushed off again.
They tend to end up/be found on the back of the neck or behind the ears.
On people they can tend to burrow way into the skin. Trying to pull it out usually leaves the head, which can cause a nasty infection. A flame and sometimes alcohol will get them to try to back out/escape.
And yeah, you really should burn them. Crush often just wounds their blood sack, they'll crawl right back out of the toilet/drain.

Be thankful it was a big tick and not a deer tick. Deer ticks are the size of a pencil point.
Or, the size of these periods .......
In some areas they are infected with/carry Lyme Disease.

My two-year-old had a fully-fed tick behind her ear. The wife discovered it as we were checking out in Home Depot, I hadn't noticed it even when I washed behind her ears that morning. We sent it out for testing and it wasn't carrying Lyme disease, but it was the grossest thing ever.